Whale Bones

Did you know that whales have hip bones?
They do.

The hip bones of whales are vestigial structures: evolutionary
leftovers. Some creature wiggled out of the ocean
and became an amphibian, and became a reptile,
and became a bird, and became a mammal,
and looked around at the land where it walked
and breathed and gave live birth
and decided it would rather be rocked by waves
So it slid back into the sea

The hip bones are still there.
Remnants from a time when
legs were required for jumping, dancing
They don't serve a purpose now,
but I guess they don't do any harm either.
Nature is replete with vestigial structures--we humans are no exception
Our tonsils, tailbone, appendix and wisdom teeth
are all vestigial.
They're our parts we don't use anymore
Leftovers from a time when the world was different
Or we were different in the world.

And I wonder, how long does it take
for a structure to become vestigial?
Is it possible that it happen the moment we evolve past its use?
If I have not been in love for five years
does my heart become vestigial?

I have adapted.
I have a sweet dog for snuggles
and dear friends and caring family.
I have purpose in my work.
And if it has been half a decade
since I have been wanted by a partner,
maybe that ache is just appendicitis
A flareup from a part of me that hasn't been useful in a long time.
Some days I would rather be rocked by waves.

I would trade in my own hip bones for a tail,
Let the ache fade into a fossilized memory
for scientists to puzzle over.
And if, in the meantime, someone
comes questing for me, searching out my heart,
all she will hear is a baleen sigh.

I have gone back to the sea.
I am swimming away.